


The day everybody lives

by Charlotte_McGonagall



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Death Fix, Episode Fix-it: s04e08 Silence in the Library, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 07:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1596134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_McGonagall/pseuds/Charlotte_McGonagall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is the translation from Italian of my fanfiction. You can find the original one on my account as well.<br/>What if Ten and River had had the chace to talk to each other and figure out a way to both survive the events of the Library?<br/>From the story:<br/>'Not ours, don't you dare, I won't let you rewrite my life. If you die now, everything we had would never had been. I don't know what I would become if you were not in my life. I even might... I might never have been born! And, even if I were, I would never become River Song'.<br/>'Then I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but you won't miss something you never had'.<br/>'I'm a time traveller: I would remember you, you know I would, the same way one remembers dreams. I would remember you and miss you, even without me knowing[...]'.<br/>'Hang on, hang on a second,' he interrupted her, as he was hit by a sudden thought.<br/>'You can't shut me up, doctor,' she complained, 'you...'. He cut her off again, putting a finger against her lips.<br/>'No, I mean it, keep silent, let me think!'.<br/>[...]'There's something... something important in what you said, something significant I must figure out, something I'm missing!'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The day everybody lives

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The day everybody lives](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1516082) by [Charlotte_McGonagall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_McGonagall/pseuds/Charlotte_McGonagall). 



> As I said, I originally wrote this fanfiction in Italian and now decided to translate it.  
> Basically, as I desperately ship River and the Doctor, I thought of the Library over and over. What if something went differently? Who never wondered? This is the result of my reasoning. I know there are a lot of Library fix-its, but I've never read about this solution before (maybe it has been written but I never read it).  
> So, no more spoilers! Hope you like it!  
> I did my best with English, but I'm sure there must be some mistake, so if you have time, please feel free to point out my mistakes. I would be grateful.

Professor Song had come back. He should have known better, getting rid of that woman didn't look easy; besides, had he ever met someone who did exactly what he said? And she looked particularly stubborn.  
'Lux can manage without me, but you can't'.  
The Doctor turned just in time to miss River's fist. He jumped back and distanced himself.  
'What the hell are you doing?', he exclaimed.  
'Saving your life, you idiot!', she answered.  
'You are not going to save anybody's life,' he said, pointing his index finger against her, 'that's my job. I save lives, I do it all the time, and now I have to save these lives, plus Donna's, yours and Mr Lux's!'.  
The Doctor raised his other hand, as if to protect himself from a further attack, but she didn't move.  
'You're so stubborn, you think you can do everything all alone,' she scolded him.  
'Not everything, but nearly everithing,' he corrected her.  
She rolled her eyes. 'You don't understand, you cannot die here! You don't die here! I've seen what you'll become in your future! Everithing between us is yet to come!'.  
'Time can be rewritten,' the Doctor pointed out.  
This time, River was the one who raised a menacing index. 'Not ours, don't you dare, I won't let you rewrite my life. If you die now, everything we had would never had been. I don't know what I would become if you were not in my life. I even might... I might never have been born! And, even if I were, I would never become River Song'.  
'Then I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but you won't miss something you never had'.  
'I'm a time traveller: I would remember you, you know I would, the same way one remembers dreams. I would remember you and miss you, even without me knowing. And there are people you will help in the future, people that could die if you won't be there to save them'.  
'Hang on, hang on a second,' he interrupted her, as he was hit by a sudden thought.  
'You can't shut me up, doctor,' she complained, 'you...'. He cut her off again, putting a finger against her lips.  
'No, I mean it, keep silent, let me think!'.  
He started walking up and down the room, flapping his hands as he muttered: 'There's something... something important in what you said, something significant I must figure out, something I'm missing!'.  
'Yes,' snapped River, who, taking advantage of his distraction, kept tinkering with cables, 'that you must say alive!'.  
With a sudden jolt, the doctor was at River's side again.  
'Repeat what you told me,' he ordered, in a hurried voice.  
'There are people you will save in your future, who will need you in your future,' she answered.  
'No, not that, before that!".  
'About not rewriting my life?", she asked.  
'Yes, that's it! What about it?', he asked, resuming his steady pacing of the room.  
'If you die now, I'll risk not to be born and I'll never be the same person anyway. Our timelines are tied too tightly'.  
The Doctor quickly turned around to look in her eyes. 'So, if I'm not mistaken, you asked me to come here today because you've known me in you past, right?', he asked.  
'Exactly, but the message was delivered too soon'.  
'And if I died here I wouldn't be able to meet you in my future...', he reasoned, frowning.  
'That's what I'm trying to tell you,' she complained.  
'And, if I never meet you, you won't call me,' he added, grinning.  
'Exactly,' she said, then her eyes went large with understanding. 'Oh... Are you thinking... ? Oh, Doctor, are you really thinking... ?'.  
The Doxtor slapped his forehead. 'Yes, yes, oh, yes, I'm really good!', he exclaimed. 'I'm good and thick! Why haven't I thought about it yet? It's a paradox! You and I are a potential paradox! If our timelines are as crossed as you claim, we are now at a crucial point in time! Now, it is as if we were playing a game of chess against destiny! We have two possible moves, do you understand? We have to choose which piece to sacrifice'.  
'You or me? But you can't be sacrificed,' snapped River. 'You are...you are like the king, in this match! Sacrificing you is not an option. If you die the game is over!'.  
'Thank you for the comparison, but let me explain: you are the queen, to bring the metaphor on. If you die, I'll keep on playing, but I'll lose an important piece. I might win, of course, our timelines would stay untouched and the circle would close, but you would be doomed, you'd create a fixed point in time,' he said, keeping walking and flapping his hands. 'If I sacrificed myself, I'd make a move that traps my opponent. It is very close to checkmate me, but he can't attack me without losing too. That's how the paradox works: if I die, I won't meet you in your past and, if you don't know me, you'll not ask me to come here and, if I never come here, I will not be able to die here! The match will not be lost, it will never have been played!'.  
River understood what the Doctor meant, she had seen a paradox work before, but she also knew that triggering such a powerful one — especially if it involved such a complicate timeline as the Doctor's — could have devastating consequences. True, it was her only chance of survival, but she, just like him, didn't fear death. Yet, the Doctor's argument was flawless: if he changed River's past, she could never draw him to the Library, thus preventing him from dying.  
'It might work, like all your almost impossible plans, but it's dangerous, you could poison the time of the whole planet with such a powerful paradox,' she intervened.  
'It's a calculated risk,' he said. 'Well... maybe not precisely calculated, but it's something worth trying. Time will try to repair the tear created by the paradox: best case scenario, the whole planet's timeline will be reactivated, time energy will fuse with that of the data core and with the time of people trapped inside it, this should stop the autodestruction and bring every one back; worst case... well, the pradox will poison the planet, but the good news is our timelines will be reactivated and redirected to a safe point — as if we we've never been here — and I should be able to remember enough of what happened (and didn't happen) to come back on this planet in time to save it without crossing my own timeline. Even if this particular period could become inaccessible forever'.  
'It seems possible,' she agreed. 'Unless, of course, our existence is wiped away'.  
'I trusted you. The question is: do you trust me?', he asked.  
'You have no idea how much,' she answered with a smile.  
'Then, professor Song, let's do this madness!', he exclaimed, clapping. 'Allons-y!'.  
'That's my Doctor,' she said fondly, widening her smile.  
'Oi, spoilers!', he playfully scolded her.  
'Oh, shut up, pretty boy,' she answered back.  
'Are you going to call me like that a lot in the future?', he asked, looking back at her and wrinkling his nose.  
'No, pretty boy is only for this particular you, sweetie,' she reassured him. 'Now help me with these cables,' she added, getting closer to the control panel, 'we are losing time we don't have. Ah, and, if something goes wrong and you die, I swear I'll kill you!'.  
'I think one paradox is enough for today, thank you very much,' he mocked her.  
'Oh, believe me, I am a woman full of paradoxes. You'll have to get used to it,' she told him, mischievously.  
'Why do I have a feeling I'll like it more than I should?', he asked, smiling.  
'Because you are worst than me, sweetie,' she answered, winking.

*

The Doctor was now linked to the wires, a few seconds till the end of the countdown.  
'That's it,' said River, looking at the numbers on the monitor. 'Now please, please, don't die'.  
'And you keep on existing, you haven't told me who you are yet,' he said.  
'Spoilers,' she replied. 'If everything goes according to plan, you'll eventually find out. It would be cruel to spoil the mystery more than I already have. You'd get bored if I made thing too easy for you'.  
'Oh, I'm under the impression there isn't anything remotely easy about you, River Song. By the way, what sort of a name is River Song?'.  
'Spoilers,' she replied again.  
'What?!', he retorted. 'What's so important even in your name?'.  
'Oh, names are very important, Doctor. And I already said too much'.  
'Then, see you, professor Song,' he said.  
'I remember everything very well,' she said, lips creased in a smile.

*

When the flash of light disappeared, the Doctor found himself in the TARDIS, surrounded by familiar lights and sounds.  
He took the psychic paper out of his pocket: there was no message on it.  
'So, beach?', asked Donna, behind him. 'I need to relax after that giant wasp!'.  
The Doctor roused from his thoughts and, with a leap, he reached the controls and started to push buttons and pull levers.  
'Oh, yes, of course, Donna, of course,' he exclaimed. 'Neptune X123's blue shores are a marvel'. He was so happy Donna was with him. She was safe, but what about those who were in the Library? What about people saved in the Data Core, CAL, the archeologists' team? Where was professor Song?  
'And you just hope we don't get attacked by a giant squid or some sort of alien shark or I swear — spaceman — I'll kick you all the way trough the TARDIS!', Donna added. He smiled.  
'Don't be silly,' he answered, 'there are no sharks on Neptune X123! It's the jellyfish you must be afraid of!'.  
'WHAT?!', she yelled menacingly.  
'Ah, don't you worry!', he laughed. 'Jellyfish can be found only in deep waters, do you think I'd deliberately put you in danger?'.  
'Don't you always?', she answered back.  
'Never deliberately,' he said, with a mocking smile, as he landed the TARDIS and approached the door.  
Donna rolled her eyes and followed him.

*

Donna and the Doctor had taken a table at the beach bar. Donna had offered to get the drinks, even if she wasn't used to the visitors of a Fifty-fourth Century beach and kept glancing suspiciously at a nearby group of Silurians.

When she returned, together with the glasses, she brought a TARDIS blue envelope.  
'Doctor, this is for you,' she said, handing it to him.  
'Who gave it to you?', he asked.  
'That woman down there, the blonde one,' she answered, pointing at the bar.  
Then the Doctor noticed her: she was wearing a black beach-robe, a straw hat and a pair of sunglasses. Unlikely their first meeting, her bushy hair fell down on her shoulders, in a thick mass. She looked back at him, smiled enigmatically, lowered her sunglasses, winked and walked away. For a moment, the Doctor was tempted to follow her, but refrained himself. That woman was his future and she was dangerous, he'd better stay away from her as long as he could.  
'Doctor, who is she?', asked Donna, as he watched professor Song walk away. 'She looks familiar, as if I had already met her but weren't able to remember the details... as if I were trying to remember a dream. Isn't it strange? Doctor? Doctor?'.  
He roused.  
'I'll try to explain it all later, Donna, even if it is a long and complicated story and I'm not sure I know everything I should. Now, I have to read this letter,' he said, opening the envelope.

*

River reached the TARDIS. The Doctor — her Doctor — was waiting for her by the box, leaning on a red-leaved palm tree, with his eternal child appearance and his disheveled wisp of hair. River smiled and came to stand by his side.  
'Mission accomplished. And now?', she asked.  
The Doctor smiled back and patted her nose with his index finger.  
'Now, professor Song, we have all of time and space before us,' he said, smiling widely and excitedly. He took the straw hat off her head and wore it, then he straightened his bow tie and ran inside the TARDIS.  
'So, where and when?', he asked, when River approached him by the console.  
'You know that hat is going to come to a bad end, don't you?', she asked, smiling mischievously.  
'But this is yours, you wouldn't dare! And it's cool! I still haven't understood what you have against my hats! So, we could go... No, wait, I know! We set the TARDIS to random-mode and let the old girl bring us wherever she wants! What do you think?'.  
'Do you mean whether I'm ready to face the unknown and risk my life after we nearly died in the Library and right after surviving a paradox that could have wiped away my own existance?', asked River.  
'Yes,' he answered.  
They exchanged conspiratorial glances.  
'What are we waiting for, sweetie? Turn the engines on!', she exclaimed. 'I might even let you drive'.  
'At your command, honey,' he said, eyes twinkling at the perspective of a new adventure.  
'It's professor, to you,' she corrected him mockingly, only a few inches from his face.  
'Alright, professor Song,' he said. He bent to briefly kiss her on the cick, then pulled a lever, starting the TARDIS, 'GERONIMO!'.

*

The Doctor took the letter out of the envelope and read.

_Dear Doctor,_

_I know you are confused because of what happened in the Library. A long time ago I was where you are now and felt the very same way. Donna should have just shown you professor Song, so you know she will be fine. After you triggered the paradox, her timeline came back to the moment she sent you — that is to say us — that message. Knowing what was going to happen, she stopped the expedition and went looking for me, this time in the correct point of our timeline. Together, we started another mission at the Library, definitely safer and better planned, something new for both me and her._

The Doctor smiled, wondering how many adventures that woman will drag him into.

_I'm tempted to tell you more, but the mission was boring enough without making the job even easier. No more spoilers for you!_  
 _Finally, thank you for preventing River from sacrificing, thank you for giving us more time. As you already guessed, you've saved a very special person. What we'll live will be unique and we risked to see it come to an end before it all even started.  
Thank you for not giving up. Never do it, not even when you think the end is coming. You must know it is only the beginning. Don't fear your future, old friend of mine, I promise it is worth living._

_See you,_  
 _The Doctor_

_P. S.: Allons-y!_

When he reached the last line, his smile had already turned into a small giggle, slightly clouded by a sense of uneasiness. The letter was full of hope and promises, but at the same time had announced his impending end. He would soon become a different person, he would meet and love River Song. Could he forget Rose? Could he give his hearts to another woman? Apparently, he would. Was he ready to go? He wasn't sure, but it wasn't the moment to think about it.

'Doctor? Doctor, what the hell is going on?', asked Donna, impatiently.  
The Doctor's smile widened and in a moment he was on his feet and took Donna's arm.  
'Donna Noble, we must celebrate!', he exclaimed.  
'What do we have to celebrate?'.  
'A day everybody lives!', he answered, solemnly. 'I know a great restaurant not far from here. Allons-y!'.

Yes, the time was coming for the Doctor to face the future and the past; time to say goodbye to Donna and Rose and to the man he had been; the time would come too — sooner or later — to tell goodbye to River Song; but not that day, not yet. That was a special day: the day everybody lives.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this.  
> When I originally wrote it, this was my first Doctor Who fanfiction. This fandom made me fell in love and River/Eleven is my ultimate OTP, so I really wanted to do a good job. I hope I did.  
> Trying to write dialogues vaguely comparable to those of the show is really hard, let alone when you have to make not one but TWO Doctors speak. I hope I did a decent job.  
> I also hope my English was good enough and that you understood the paradox, I've been told it can be a bit confusing at first. But, after all, since when is Doctor Who meant to be fully understandable?


End file.
